Chilli, garlic and ginger chicken

publication date: Sep 3, 2008

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author/source: Charlie Edmunds

We had some great entries for our first challenge but Charlie's entry just shaded it because it was so easy to make and didn't involve too many ingredients. She wins the Ken Hom wok set. Runners-up prizes of a copy of Ching-He Huang’s Chinese Cooking Made Easy to Jenny Day for her tasty Singapore Noodle recipe which we'll post tomorow and Lucas Owen for his ingenious Cheap-o Noodles which you'll find on the Wall on our Facebook page.

Charlie's Chilli, garlic and ginger chicken
The joy of this recipe is that you can make it with fresh ingredients or dried flavourings - fresh feel nicer but dried are cheaper and easier to control - two fresh chillis from the same packet can vary hugely. If you have a chilli plant on your windowsill then remember that the longer you leave the chillis on the plant the spicier they will be - if you leave them until they're really dark red and wrinkly be prepared for some heat!

Ingredients (for 2 people, or for one dinner and one lunch if you have a microwave handy)
2 chicken breasts
1 red pepper
1 onion
2 blocks fine egg noodles
Chilli (1 tsp dried flakes or 1 fresh red chilli)
Garlic (1 tsp dried garlic or 2 cloves fresh)
Ginger (1/2 tsp dried powder or a smallish chunk fresh)
Soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce to serve

* Put a little bit of oil in a frying pan or wok, put on the heat.
* Cut up the chicken into small pieces (same-sized for even cooking), put in hot wok. Stir.
* While this cooks chop up the onion and pepper - wash your knife and chopping board first with hot soapy water if you don't have a spare.
* If you're using fresh, chop the chilli, garlic, and ginger as finely as you can. If you have a garlic crusher the garlic flavour will come through more strongly. Don't try to crush the ginger unless you are
really strong!
* Put the kettle on to boil.
* When the chicken is cooked (cut a piece open if you're not sure) add the chilli, garlic, ginger, a glug of soy sauce, and stir to coat. Add a splash of water here if using dried ingredients.
* Add the pepper and onion and cook.
* Put the noodles in a saucepan, add hot water from the kettle, boil for 4 mins or according to instructions.
* Drain noodles, add to wok and stir if there is space.
* Serve in bowls, with more soy sauce and sweet chilli dipping sauce.

Warning: my boyfriend has been addicted to these ever since I showed him how to make them, and has been using ever-increasing amounts of chilli.